Head of Global Application Labs, Pharma Solutions

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Position Title : Head of Global Application Labs – Pharma Solutions

Department/Function: G-ENP/ML – Global Application Lab

Reporting Line: VP, Global Business Management, Excipients & Biopharma (G-ENP/M)

Summary of Role:

Responsible for high quality, aligned and prioritized global Application and Product Data generation and management. Leading all regional Pharma Application Labs via the local Application Lab Leaders, to ensure efficient, effective and globally aligned and balanced organization of lab activities and resource deployment. Strong stakeholder management collaborating with Heads of Technical Sales, Technical Product Management & Marketing, and Development.

Key Responsibilities:

• Organizational Aspects: Global management of lab resources with strong project alignment, prioritization and steering. Responsible for allocation of CapEx for global labs, lab project pipeline and reporting. Steering of, and resource-allocation for data generation on a global level incl. timing, assignment and coordination.
• Stakeholder Management: Strong collaboration with Heads of Regional Technical Sales, Head of Technical Marketing, and Technical Product Management to ensure teams will be provided with relevant, high-quality application and product data in an effective and efficient manner.
• Ensuring Global Standards: Development, implementation and maintenance of global standards for application and product data generation, including methods, quality, experimental design, DOE, lab team trainings, to ensure global harmonization and efficient use of resources. Regular quality assurance e.g., by recurring round robin tests. Development of application expertise for new / upcoming applications.
• Leadership: Functional lead of the Regional Application Lab Leaders and the Application Experts, incl. lab team training, development and global collaboration and exchange, balancing short / mid / long term lab activities and aligning timelines and priorities.
• Product Launch Support: Close collaboration with Head of Development to jointly generate data during development and launch phase of new products, providing application feedback to Development team, launch data to Technical Marketing, and ensuring that all regional labs are familiar with the new product prior to launch.
• Competency & Skills: Ensuring high standard in scientific acumen. Arrange global technical team training, exchange, and develop teams experience on key topics like applications, scientific work, documentation etc.
• External Representation: Represent BASF at key conferences and relevant industry associations.

Expected Travel ~35% global

Required Skills & Experience:

• Deep understanding of pharmaceutical applications, excipients, and product data  generation.

• Strong foundation in experimental design, DOE (Design of Experiments), and analytical methods.

• Proven track record in leading cross-regional technical teams, including mentoring, training, and developing lab personnel.

• Ability to balance short-, mid-, and long-term priorities across global teams.

• Skilled in managing global lab resources, CapEx allocation, and project pipelines.

• Experience in prioritizing and steering complex technical projects across multiple regions.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to collaborate effectively with multiple

global stakeholders and navigate complex stakeholder environments and influence decision-making

• Proficiency in managing technical documentation, application data, and ensuring consistency and accessibility across global teams.

• Experience organizing global technical training programs and facilitating knowledge exchange on key scientific and application topics.

• Strong understanding of internal processes incl. production, quality, regulatory, supply chain

• PhD in Chemistry or Pharmacy, MBA or equivalent business qualification is a plus.

• 15 Years experience, 8 years management